NEWS ARCHIVE

Jury selection for John Goodman trial to take place in Tampa

The jury selection portion of polo mogul John Goodman’s DUI manslaughter trial may take place in Tampa, not Palm Beach County. Chief Judge Jeffrey Colbath has a motion hearing scheduled Sept.11 to discuss changing the jury selection venue, but according to emails obtained by WPBF 25 News, it appears the decision has already been made. Investigative reporter Terri Parker has the latest.

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Chief Judge Jeffrey Colbath has a motion hearing scheduled Sept.11 to discuss changing the jury selection venue, but according to emails obtained by WPBF 25 News, it appears the decision has already been made.

However, when WPBF 25 News asked the Palm Beach County state attorney’s spokesman about the venue change, Mike Edmondson replied “It’s news to us.”

In an email dated Sept 3, Colbath wrote to Florida Supreme Court Justice Jorge Labarga that “due to the venue change for jury selection only in State v. John B. Goodman … I am requesting to be appointed temporarily as a Circuit Court Judge of the 13th Judicial Circuit to hear and conduct jury selection proceedings in this matter.”

In a second email, Palm Beach County Assistant Court Administrator Debra Oats wrote to a court administrator in Tampa, saying:

“Chief Judge Jeffrey Colbath does plan to start on Oct. 6 and anticipates the jury selection to last 2-3 days. As previously stated, he plans on calling up 100 jurors in the morning and 100 in the afternoon.

The Palm Beach County Court docket Monday reflects Goodman’s retrial being cancelled in the 15th District, and specially set somewhere else.

Despite Colbath’s request to be appointed Judge in the 13th Judicial District, “As of 8 a.m., Judge Colbath didn’t seem to know about this,” said Edmondson. “He said ‘I’m learning about what I’m supposedly doing in my trial in the paper.’”

Edmondson said chief prosecutor Al Johnson also was unaware of the looming change.

“We had reached out to some districts to let them know of possible dates if we needed to conduct jury selection elsewhere, but that’s as far as we got, as far as I know,” said Edmondson.

Goodman’s trial would not be the first high-profile trial in Florida to hold jury selection elsewhere.

In 2011 jurors in the Casey Anthony murder trial were selected from Clearwater and brought to Orlando for the two-month trial.